Eugene Labiche

Eugène-Marin Labiche (1815-1888) was a comic playwright who wrote many of the most popular and amusing light comedies of the 19th-century French stage. Written together with other authors, these works were presented mostly at the Palais-Royal, the home of light comedy. The best of his works include Le Chapeau de paille d’Italie (1851; The Italian Straw Hat), which inspired René Clair’s classic film of the same name (1927); Le Misanthrope et l’Auvergnat (1852); Le Voyage de M. Perrichon (1860; The Journey of Mr. Perrichon); and La Poudre aux yeux (1861; “The Bluff”).